


Thanksgiving

by nealinor



Series: ABO Bingo Round 3 [15]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Castiel/Omega Dean Winchester, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Family Dinners, Firefighter Dean Winchester, M/M, Photographer Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 05:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nealinor/pseuds/nealinor
Summary: Dean has decided that it’s time to meet his family and Cas is incredibly nervous.





	Thanksgiving

**Author's Note:**

> Square Filled: Fluff!
> 
> Many thanks to RooBear68 for the suggestion to do a family dinner. I hope you guys enjoy. Here are the other fics in the series, in order.  
> [ Just Add Kittens](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943235)  
> [ Quarter Past Midnight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16003283)  
> [ Hunger](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009997)  
> [ For a Ride](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16125752)  
> [ Perfect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146497)  
> [ Naughty Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16286441)  
> Enjoy!  
> ~Neal

Castiel was nervous. In fact, he was more nervous than he had ever been in his most recent memories and that included taking photographs of a bank robbery standoff where bullets were flying. He told himself he was being ridiculous as he walked back to his bedroom and checked his appearance in the mirror one more time. He was wearing a dark blue button down shirt and a dark gray cardigan over the top with a pair of navy blue dress pants. Everything was neatly pressed and he looked very presentable, particularly with the bowtie that was tied at his neck. He eyed it critically as he considered whether or not he should wear it. Dean was going to laugh at it. He knew that but didn’t mind so much, it was Dean’s family he had to impress. He glanced up at himself and could see the raw nerves in his eyes.

He gave a deep sigh and forced his shoulders to relax and tugged at the bowtie around his neck, pulling the bow out of the light blue fabric. He started to retie it around his throat a second later, instantly changing his mind about its fate; he needed the comfort of the tie around his neck. He wore one most days and was used to it. It would help him feel confident. As he worked on the tie, there was a knock at the door. Dean was here. He scurried to the door and tossed it open, bowtie still half tied. “Hello Dean.”

Dean grinned at him widely as he pushed his way in the door. “Hey Cas! You look all spiffy-ed up.” He tweaked the edge of the bowtie in Cas’s hands, which made him mess up the tie.

Cas gave a sigh again, untied the bowtie and closed the door behind his omega and headed back towards his bedroom. “Let me tie this and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Sure.” Dean followed him back to the mirror and stood just to the side watching him tie it.

For some reason this made Cas a little more nervous so he tried to deflect his nerves by talking to Dean. “How was your day?”

“Pretty uneventful.” Dean said with a laugh. “I went to sleep this morning when I got off shift and woke up in time to get ready for this evening. How was yours?”

“Fine.” Cas said shortly, though there was a tinge to his voice because it hadn’t been fine, it’d been trying.

“Really?” Dean said, nudging his shoulder.

Of course his omega had noticed the falsehood. His shoulders slumped as he finished tying the bowtie and turned towards Dean. “No, it was awful. I had to photograph two newborns that wouldn’t stop crying and had an afternoon meeting with this weekend’s bridezilla, who also broke out in tears in my office. Thankfully her mother was there to offset the tears so we could finish the plans for the wedding on Saturday.”

Dean chuckled as he reached up and tweaked Cas’s tie, straightening the edges so it looked better. “Well, let it go, okay alpha? Tonight’s going to be a good night, I promise. Sam and Eileen are going to love you.”

Cas grunted as Dean said it. “What if they don’t?” The question had been circling his mind all day.

“Impossible.” Dean said, leaning up to steal a quick kiss. “I love you so of course they will love you. It’s a non-issue.” Dean grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together and began to tug Cas out of the bathroom.

Cas let himself be lead through his small apartment, pausing next to the kitchen counter to grab the wine he’d bought as a gift. He paused at the door to grab his jacket and then followed Dean out the door. The parking lot was quiet with not a lot of people home today; of course, it was Thanksgiving and many were off to visit family. As it was, Cas’s brother was angry with him now for ditching family dinner in favor of meeting his omega’s family, but Dean had been so pleading when he’d asked that Cas had been unable to say no.

Together they walked to Baby, hand in hand. When Cas got in the car, he noticed that Dean had brought a couple of pies that were sitting on the back seat, filling the car with the scent of sweet apple and cinnamon. Normally that would be delicious, however, it was covering the s’mores campfire scent of Dean and that took away some of the comfort that the alpha found from sitting in Dean’s car. He shifted in the seat as he put on the seatbelt and tried not to fidget. When Dean settled in, he reached for Cas’s hand and threaded their fingers together again before he put the car in reverse and maneuvered them out of the parking lot.

Cas waited until they were on the road to speak. “You really aren’t nervous?” He glanced at Dean to his side, his hand tightening around the omega’s.

“Nah… I mean, not really.” Dean answered, sparing a look for the alpha before he turned his eyes back to the road. “It’s just Sammy, and honestly, he wants me to be happy. I am happy, Cas. I’m practically ecstatic all the time now.”

Cas blushed a little at the vote of confidence from his omega. It didn’t alleviate his nerves but it did make him feel accomplished in a way. His omega was happy and presumably, he helped him feel that way. “I am happy too. Every day I wake up and thank the universe for you.”

Dean’s cheeks flushed and he glanced at Cas again, his expression oddly grateful. “I’m glad, Alpha. Ditto.” Dean cut the wheel and they turned into the short driveway of a nice two story house. It was light blue in color with white trim and a wraparound porch. “We’re here.”

Cas swallowed the uprising nerves which made his stomach flip flop queasily and he spared a thought to wonder how in the world he was ever going to manage to eat a Thanksgiving dinner around that. “That was fast.”

Dean grinned at him. “Time to bite the bullet and meet my family.” His expression softened as he looked at Cas. “It’s going to be fine. Help me by grabbing a pie.”

Cas did as he was told, swiping up his bottle of wine and one of the pies from the backseat. He followed behind Dean to the front door of that house, which swung open the moment they were on the steps to the porch. The man who stepped out was huge, even taller than Dean, with shaggy brown hair and warm hazel eyes that swept over the both of them. They were appraising as they roamed over Cas but then they landed on Dean and a bright, warm smile came out.

“Dean! Welcome! We’re so glad that you decided to spend Thanksgiving with us.”

Dean jogged his way up the steps and walked into the open arms of the tall man, clearly an alpha, and returned the hug one armed, the other arm holding onto a pie. Another person stepped out of the house and came around behind the man to grab the pie from Dean. She was shorter than both the other men with long dark hair and dark eyes and she tossed Cas a warm smile when her eyes landed on him. He nodded his thanks to her as he mounted the stairs behind Dean.

Dean stepped out of the hug and gestured to Cas. “Hey Sammy, thanks for inviting us. This here is my alpha, Castiel Novak.”

Sam offered Cas a hand, which of course, Cas couldn’t take because he had a bottle of wine in one hand and a pie in the other. He gave a sheepish grin. “It’s my pleasure to meet you.”

Dean grabbed the extra pie from Cas’s hand so Cas could shake with Sam. The taller man, clearly an alpha now that Cas was close enough to smell him, grabbed onto Cas’s hand with a firm grip that was clearly meant to be tight. Cas almost sighed at the stereotypical show of alpha strength; he personally didn’t like to go for those types of behaviors but if he backed down from the challenge he would look weak and Sam might dismiss him as being worthy of his brother. When in Rome and all that…so Cas squeezed Sam’s hand with a similar show of strength which meant they were holding onto each other with white knuckles. Cas was barely holding in a wince at the force of it but kept it up from his end, fully intending to not let go until Sam did.

The dark haired women stepped up and grabbed Sam’s wrist with a light laugh. “Yes, you are both big strong alphas.” The moment she took Sam’s wrist, he let go. Cas resisted the urge to rub the life back into his fingers. The woman stepped towards him. “I’m Eileen, Sam’s mate.” There was a telltale turn of her words that told him she was deaf, though Dean had already warned him of this.

Cas knew what to do and spoke to her while signing his words as well as he could one handed, quietly thanking his fascination for languages that had carried him through school and prompted him to take two years of ASL classes. “Hello Eilleen, I’m Castiel. Dean likes to call me Cas.”

Eileen blinked at the signing, then a bright smile crossed her features. “Nice to meet you Cas.” She spoke and signed back. “Is this for me?” She gestured at the wine bottle.

Cas nodded and offered it to her. He was ultimately aware of Sam’s eyes glued to him as he talked to the man’s mate. “Yes, it is. I hope it goes well with dinner.”

Eileen took the bottle from his hands, then threaded her arm through his. “It’ll be perfect. Come inside.” She tugged him up the stairs and into the door of the house.

Cas had no choice but to follow her. He got a brief view of the entry way, which had a set of stairs that were lined with a garland of fall leaves and headed up to the second level. Then he found himself tugged into a dining room that held a table that was set in nice china and ready for them to eat the meal. They passed through that room and stopped in the kitchen, where Eileen finally let go of his arm.

She turned towards him with that same warm smile. “Don’t mind Sam. He means well but he’s just protective of Dean. Things haven’t always been easy for them.”

“I understand.” Cas said as he looked around the kitchen. It had granite counters and stainless steel appliances and was warm with the smells of cooking turkey. “Dean mentioned they were close growing up and that he practically raised Sam.”

Eileen hummed with a slight nod. “Something like that.” She turned to a drawer and came up with a corkscrew, which she promptly gave to him along with the bottle of wine. “I’ll grab the glasses if you will open this up.”

Cas breathed a sigh of relief and set to opening the wine. He could handle being put to work. By the time the wine was open; Eileen had brought him the glasses so he poured them each one then walked out to set them at the places on the table. Eileen then pulled the turkey from the oven and called Sam in to carve the bird. Cas took the opportunity to go find Dean again. The omega was standing in the room opposite the dining room, which appeared to be a living room. It held a large, overstuffed couch and a coffee table. When he came to his omega’s side, Dean placed a warm kiss on his lips.

“You okay, Cas?” The omega peered at him with concerned green eyes.

Cas smiled. “I’m fine, Dean. I like Eileen.”

Dean grinned. “She’s easy to like. Tough too. You’ll see.”

Cas nodded and opened his mouth to ask about that when they were both cut off by Sam.

“Dinner’s served.” The tall alpha poked his head into the living room to call them both to the table.

Dean grabbed his hand and dragged him to the table. There were place cards that told them where to sit so Cas took his seat across the table from Sam and next to Dean. The table was laden with turkey and all the other fixings and everything smelled delicious.

“This looks amazing.” He said to Eileen, who smiled and nodded at him.

“I hope it’s all as good as it looks.” Eileen laughed as she said it.

“I’m sure it’s perfect.” Sam said as he leaned over to kiss his mate on the cheek, then he picked up the turkey platter to serve himself before passing it across the table to Cas. Cas accepted it and served himself before passing it on to Dean. The table fell to silence as they passed around the food and filled their plates. Once everyone was served, Sam nodded his head with a smile. “Dig in guys, we don’t stand on ceremony here.”

Next to him, Dean tucked into his food with a gusto that Cas was well used to. He loved to watch the way his omega loved food and for a moment he almost set to watching him enjoy it but jerked his eyes away when he realized that some people might find that weird. He turned back to his plate to find that Sam had been watching him. His cheeks colored as he picked up his fork and began to eat unobtrusively.

The moment that Cas put a bite of turkey in his mouth and started to chew, Sam spoke to him. “So, Dean says you are a photographer.”

Cas had to wait that awkward moment as he finished chewing before he could answer and consequently felt the blush spreading down his neck. “Yes, I own my own studio and I also work free-lance for the newspaper.”

Sam nodded as he took in the answer. “What kinds of things do you do in your studio?”

This time Cas hadn’t eaten anything, thinking that Sam would have more questions and was glad of it. “It’s mostly portrait work. New babies, senior pictures, engagement photos, and weddings.”

“Weddings, huh? That must be stressful.” Eileen piped up.

Cas chuckled. “Sometimes. Mostly it’s not too bad.”

“How did you meet Dean?” Sam asked between bites.

Cas was now a little afraid to eat and pushed his food around on his plate. “Um, I was hired by the firehouse to take some pictures of the firefighters.”

Dean looked up with a bright smile and stopped shoveling food into his mouth. “Remember when I told you about that sexy firefighter calendar Charlie wanted to do as a fundraiser? Cas was the one that took those pictures.”

“I see.” Sam said, eyeing Cas a little suspiciously. “Liked what you saw then?”

Dean choked next to Cas and Cas turned to pat his back.

“Sam!” Eileen hissed and slapped her mate on the wrist. “We talked about this.”

Sam had the good grace to look ashamed of himself.

Dean was glaring at his brother across the table. “I asked him out, Sam. Not the other way around.”

Cas patted Dean on the shoulder, wanting to show that he wasn’t offended. “It’s true I noticed that your brother was very handsome. We went for coffee that night and we got to know each other better and I learned that he was an amazing omega.” He glanced back to Dean to find that the omega was smiling at him and he looked down at his hands and then back up at Sam. “I won’t apologize for noticing his beauty because I’ve also taken the time to know that he’s amazing in many ways.”

Sam grunted at the challenge, accepting it grudgingly. “Dean is pretty amazing.”

“On that we agree.” Cas said as he picked up his fork again, feeling a little bit more on balance.

“So, how are things at the law offices?” Dean piped up, changing the subject.

“Oh, we got this new case.” Eileen popped up and proceeded to tell them all about it, prattling on and on about the happenings at Winchester and Winchester, Offices of Law, trying to take the edge off the table.

Cas was altogether aware that Sam was still watching him, which made it hard to eat and feel comfortable but Cas made a stab at it, nibbling at his food as he directed polite questions at Eileen, prompting her to tell him all about their latest environmental law case that they’d taken. It felt a little like being stalked, Sam was watching his every move and seemed to be waiting for the right moment to strike. Dean and Eileen mostly carried the conversation at the table and if they noticed the charged atmosphere between the two alphas neither of them mentioned it. Eventually the plates were cleared and Eileen hopped up to grab the plates.

“Let me help you.” Cas said, shifting to get up when Dean caught his wrist.

“You helped earlier. I’ll help now.” The omega grabbed their plates and followed Eileen into the kitchen, leaving the two alphas alone.

Cas glanced at Sam, knowing this was when he’d strike. He wasn’t wrong.

“So, Castiel, what are your intentions towards my brother?” The alpha’s voice was soft, likely hoping to avoid grabbing the attention of either omega in the kitchen.

As attacks went, this was a mild one that Cas was ready for. He couldn’t blame Sam for wanting to watch out for his omega brother. “I think Dean is my omega and when he’s ready, I’d like to mate him.” His answer was honest and straight forward as he met Sam’s eyes head on. He wouldn’t hide here. “Dean is everything I’ve ever imagined I’d want in an omega and so much more.”

Sam grunted at the answer but didn’t seem to be mollified. “You know he doesn’t need you. Dean can take care of himself.”

“I know that.” Cas answered evenly. “And he can make his own decisions. I can’t answer for him which is why I say that I’d like to mate him instead of we would like to mate. I can’t speak for him. “Cas cleared his throat. “That said, I’m sure you know this conversation would make him angry. He won’t like that either you or I spoke about him this way.”

Sam’s shoulders relaxed and the beginnings of a smile played on his lips. “You are right about that. He never likes that I try to protect him but you know, he spends so much energy taking care of others that he often forgets to take care of himself.”

Cas nodded, as he’d noticed that too. “And when he does that, it’s my privilege to care for him as much as he’ll let me.” He kept his eyes on Sam, trying to will him to believe that Cas only had Dean’s best interests at heart. His omega was precious and nothing could dissuade him to step away from him. He wasn’t going to be stared off.

Sam grunted again with a nod. “I guess we will see.”

Eileen and Dean came back into the room again to clear the next round of dishes and this time, Sam picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes and followed them into the kitchen. Cas decided to follow suit and pitch in to clear the table. He had a feeling that whatever the test had been, he’d passed it. They worked together in the kitchen to wrap up the food and put it away and the air was much lighter. Sam and Dean joked about Thanksgivings past and about how their Uncle Bobby had once set the kitchen on fire cooking the turkey. Eileen shared stories about her own family’s traditions so Cas piped up and told them about Gabriel’s turkey and how it he cooked it in maple syrup so that it was sweet. By the time the pie had been served, Cas and Sam were openly debating some of the new policies that were being debated in the state senate at the time and mostly were agreeing with each other. Dean watched on with pride. After the pie was cleared they retired to the living room with cups of apple cider and continued to chat with each other. It was clear that Sam and Eileen loved each other deeply and were happy but equally clear was how very happy Dean and Cas were with each other. They teased each other in front of the other couple and eventually Dean reached for Cas’s hand and they held onto each other lightly, merely enjoying touching the other.

 It seemed like no time at all had passed when Dean finally stood up. “I guess we’d better get going.”

Sam sighed. “Alright Dean. I’m glad you came and brought Cas.”

The two brothers hugged and then Dean turned to offer Eileen a hug. Sam turned to Cas. “I think I see what Dean likes about you. I’m glad we met.”

Cas offered his hand to Sam. “Thank you for inviting me. It was good to meet Dean’s family.”

Sam took his hand but then surprised him by pulling him into a hug. When the alpha embraced him, he whispered in his ear. “There’s no one that would be as good of a mate to Dean as you.”

Cas felt himself flush warm and tears pricked the corners of his eyes. Sam approved of him. “Tha… thank you.” He murmured.

Sam laughed. “This is where you hug back.”

“Oh!” Cas hurridly returned the hug awkwardly. “Thank you Sam.”

“Anytime, Cas.” Sam patted him on the back and stepped back.

He was immediately replaced by Eileen, who hugged Cas as well. “Come back soon.”

“I’d be happy to.” He told her, hugging her back right away so it wouldn’t be so awkward. When he let go, it was to find that Dean was watching him with a beaming smile.

They left the house together and climbed back into Baby and headed home.

Dean glanced at him. “Want to come to my place and sleep over, alpha?”

“There’s nothing I would like more.” Cas answered as he took Dean’s free hand into his own.

“I told you it would be fine, didn’t I?” Dean said as he navigated them towards Dean’s house.

“Yes, you did. I should know you would be right.”

Dean tossed his head back and laughed. “Don’t you forget it, Alpha.”

Cas never intended to.


End file.
